Self Examination and Improvement
by thedeadpen
Summary: Kazahaya is NOT stupid, and he's not going to let Rikuo tell him he is anymore. If he sounds smarter, maybe he can fake it? But what new things will he learn about himself in the pursuit of intelligence that have nothing to do with big words?
1. Everyone's a catalyst

Welcome, and happy reading! I don't own any of these lovely characters.

* * *

"Idiot." 

"Bastard!"

Rikuo laughed at his younger coworker/friend/roommate's over zealous reaction and decided to tease him some more. "See? You just proved my point. Bastard is all you could come up with? You've already called me that today." He smirked when Kazahaya balled his fists.

"That's just all I could think of to describe you!"

"A typical response from the intellectually challenged."

Whether or not he was aware of it, Rikuo's snide comments were cutting Kazahaya deeply. Education had always been a sore subject with him. He and Kei hadn't gotten far in school (indeed, Kazahaya had skipped out on as much of the little education as he could at the time), but he'd worked hard on his own since entering the real world to make sure he could read and write and do math with considerable skill. He hated to be called stupid. He wanted to hit Rikuo just then.

Instead, he turned and headed to the back, leaving the older boy to grin superiorly at what he took to be another emotional meltdown.

Of course he wouldn't tell Rikuo how badly those particular words hurt, he had too much pride for that. But he also vowed silently to never give Rikuo and opportunity to call him stupid again.

Yeah, and just how would he pull that off?

Back in the stock room, he took a few minutes to collect himself before he began going through the boxes, trying to recall what Kakei had told him needed to be out.

"Vitamins and pregnancy tests."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, not to mention dropped the box he'd been examining, when his boss appeared behind him.

"Kakei." He breathed heavily.

"Good morning. Working hard already, I see." The owner of Green Drugstore smiled. "But you can leave that for a moment. I'd like to talk to you."

Kazahaya hesitated before following him from his office. This was probably about another 'job.' He wondered if Rikuo was already waiting for them.

But Kakei's office was empty except for Saiga when they entered, and he shut the door behind them, gesturing for Kazahaya to take a seat. The older, darker man seemed to be napping on the couch, but with the sunglasses on it was always hard to tell.

"So Kazahaya," Kakei immediately noticed him employee's glances at Saiga. "Don't worry, he's out like a light. I wanted to talk to you about earlier."

Kazahaya looked at him in confusion. This was the first time he'd spoken with Kakei all day. He and Rikuo had opened the store.

"The argument between Rikuo and you? I noticed that you looked rather uncomfortable after you left."

_No more uncomfortable than now... _He thought silently, shifting at the thought that Kakei could read him so easily, and that he'd been watching them.

His employer let out a slight chuckle. "Don't worry, I'm not going to give you a lecture about playing nice or sharing your feelings during working hours," Kazahaya flushed with embarrassment and a bit of shame. "Just this." He held out a large hardbound book, which Kazahaya took cautiously. It was heavy.

"What-" He examined it gingerly, reading the spine to see what kind of book his boss would be giving him. "A... dictionary?" He didn't get it. Maybe he was an idiot after all. Maybe Kakei knew this and felt sorry for him.

"I want you to take it for now. Look up some of the pleasant phrases you and Rikuo have been exchanging, or anything else you desire. But for now put it in your room and get back to work. You can keep it as long as you'd like."

Kazahaya stuttered out a thank you, not sure what else to say, and excuse himself. Kakei shut the door behind him and sat down on the couch near Saiga's head.

"What was that about?" Saiga shifted his head into Kakei's lap.

"Just nudging them along." Kakei murmured, running a hand through Saiga's hair. "Don't trouble yourself."

"I never do. I know that you've got it under control."

"Very true. They may take a while, but I can already see them coming together. It just requires more work that I first envisioned."

"You're been working too hard. Why don't you stay and relax for awhile? They'll take care of themselves." Saiga caught Kakei's wrist and drew him down into a deep kiss.

"You know, that's a very tempting offer. I may just do that..."

* * *

Enjoy this first chapter? If things aren't making too much sense, it'll all come together soon. Hang in there if you love Rikuo and Kaza! (and who doesn't?) Also throwing in some steamy Kakei and Saiga because I can't get enough of them. 


	2. Word of the day

Before anyone get's all bent out of shape, YES, I'm using an English Webster's dictionary. Sure, the story is Japanese and they wouldn't be using these words, but I'm writing in English, so I'm using English. Judge how well it works at the end. And need I point out I own nothing but this plot?

_

* * *

'Stupid' (adj) - slow in comprehension or understanding._

Kazahaya mulled it over for a minute. Sure, he wasn't always the first to catch on, but was he really stupid?

_'Intelligent' (adj) - the capacity to perceive and comprehend meaning._

What a way to say 'how much you can learn.' Kazahaya could learn. He'd taught himself most of what he knew. It only took him two weeks to know the work in the drugstore as well as Rikuo did, despite his occasional mishaps.

'_Bastard' (noun) - an illegitimate child; a disagreeable, mean, or nasty person._

"That's Rikuo all right." Kazahaya muttered. He shut the dictionary with a sigh. What had Kakei really wanted him to do with a dictionary? What did that have to do with his argument with Rikuo?

"_You just proved my point. Is that all you could come up with?"_

"Yes." He grudgingly admitted to himself. He bit his lip and glanced at the dictionary again. How many other words were there that he could have flung back at Rikuo?

Kazahaya once again pulled the book back in front of him and with tentative fingers opened it near the beginning.

_'Bougie' - 'Bowleg'_ was the heading of the page he was staring at. He quickly scanned the page and was shocked at the number of words he didn't recognize. The definition of one near the bottom of the first column caught his eye.

'_Bounder' (adj) - a vulgar person._

Kazahaya tried to imagine tossing that out in a argument, but it was difficult. Maybe there was a reason why only scholars used words like that...

Hey! Scholars were smart- compared to Kazahaya, they were geniuses. Maybe if he _sounded_ more like a scholar, Rikuo wouldn't be able to call him stupid. But he'd actually have to know the words he was using- if Rikuo happened to know one of them and he used it wrong...talk about a backfire.

He looked down at the page again. There were plenty of big, smart sounding words with detailed definitions. He didn't want to go overboard, but if he could just learn them one at a time every day, in a few months he'd sound brilliant!

But which ones to pick? There were enough to last a lifetime. He could definitely use bounder on Rikuo, but his new intellectual self was going to be above such childish tactics. He'd beat Rikuo with his brain.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Rikuo leaned against the wall and watched Saiga straighten up from his crouch outside the keyhole to his and Kazahaya's room. 

"Ha, ha, ha!" He patted Rikuo on the back with enough force to have knocked a smaller man down. "Like you don't know." Rikuo cocked an eyebrow at him and he threw his head back and laughed louder as he moved down the hall towards the stairs. Rikuo shook his head and entered the room.

Downstairs, Saiga met Kakei in his office. He was lounging on the couch, his small frame stretched to it's fullest in a cat arch, after which he settled back onto the cushions and invited Saiga to join him.

With a smirk, the larger man scooped him up and deposited him into his lap.

"So?" Kakei reclined his head on Saiga's shoulder.

"Just like you said. I think he was in the Bs." Saiga trailed his hand down the side of Kakei's face and continued past his throat, but stopped at his shirt collar.

"B..." He mused. "B for bastard I suppose."

"Hopefully he comes up with something better. I've even heard him use that one a few too many times."

"I don't think you understand quite how our young friend's mind works." Kakei chuckled, turning to face Saiga by straddling his hips.

"Well, that's why I have you. So I don't have to bother finding out." Saiga slid Kakei's coat off his shoulders and it hit the ground with a muffled thud. Then his removed the encumbering shirt and let his fingers dance down the smaller man's chest.

Kakei, not willing to let him have all the fun, lifted his chin and took his lips into a demanding kiss. He was also the first to break it, pulling just out of Saiga's reach.

"Are you sure you don't want me to explain it to you?"

Saiga growled slightly in the back of his throat at being stopped and Kakei suppressed a smile at his aggravation. "I'm sure. There's something else I'd rather be doing than talking about Kazahaya right now." With that, he again drew Kakei back to him, this time dominating the kiss as he gently shifted so that they were laying on the couch with him looming above the smaller man. "You can tell me all about it later."

Kakei slipped his hands up Saiga's shirt, removing it, and drew him down on top of him. "Sure thing."

* * *

Yeah, I think I keep adding Kakei/Saiga scenes because I love them so much. I need to just write a fic about them, but we always get a little info out of them, so they aren't going anywhere. Thanks for reading! Reviews are loved (as are reviewers- I love you all!). 


	3. Bourgeois

So it's finally here! And it's longer than usual to make up for the long long wait (at least start to). So here we go! I don't own these characters, of course.

* * *

Kazahaya hadn't left the Bs yet. He looked at the next column on the page. He had to be able to use some of these words.

_'Bourgeois' (noun, adj)_ - a member of the middle class.

That shouldn't be to hard to throw out in a casual conversation. If he was reading the pronunciation key right, it sounded cool, too. Almost French. It would knock Rikuo off his high horse, that was for sure.

He wanted to practice a little with it, make up a few sentences to say out loud so he could be sure it sounded okay, but he heard Saiga's uproarious laughter outside the door and shoved the dictionary under his pillow, turning bright red.

Rikuo came in next, closing the door behind him out of habit. Kazahaya used to be uncomfortable with it, like they were trapped in there together or something, but he'd gotten used to it. Now it was kind of nice sometimes, and could definitely be quieter. But at this moment he wished it were wide open and he were walking through it.

"What's your problem?" Rikuo shot the question across the room while he looked for a clean shirt to change into. The irritation in his voice was more for Saiga than Kazahaya, but either would do. He knew if he stayed in the room long enough, his roommate would do something to annoy him.

"N-nothing." He took a deep breath and told himself to calm down. The dictionary was safely hidden. "Nothing is wrong with me, Rikuo. I'm perfectly fine." He said stiffly.

"Yeah." He brushed off the seriously formal tone of voice and stripped to the waist. Kazahaya's blush grew a little deeper and he averted his eyes.

"Isn't that a little rude?"

Rikuo looked over at him and smirked. "Is it? Shouldn't I be calling you rude for watching?"

"I wasn't watching!" Oh, no. He was going to lose his cool again. He could always feel it.

Of course, by then he was watching when Rikuo trailed his hand lazily down his chest. "You don't have to be so shy, Kaza. If you want to watch, go ahead."

"Get your head out of the gutter!" He whipped around so there would be no way Rikuo could say he was watching. That was low. Low even for him. Like he'd even want to watch him.

"Why don't you join me down there instead?" He whispered into Kazahaya's ear. He hadn't even heard him come over.

The younger boy jumped and skidded away towards the head of his bed.

"Now I just told you, you don't have to be shy." He continued to advance and Kazahaya did the only reckless thing he could think of. He chucked the dictionary at Rikuo.

"Pervert. You don't ever deserve to be called bourgeois!" The heavy book caught him in the chest and he let out a heavy rush of air and sank to one knee on the bed. Kazahaya darted around him and out the door, closing it behind him.

He didn't know the stunned expression on his roommate's face had come from getting his breath knocked out of him or Kazahaya's choice in words. Did he even know what bourgeois was?

And yes, that had certainly been one way to use his new word in a conversation, but turning it into another insult went against his vow to rise above the petty fighting. Such resolve.

Rikuo didn't follow him out of the room. Kazahaya waited in the hall, ready to apologize and silently suffer the ridicule he was sure he deserved, but when he finally did come out, fully clothed now, he said he had something to take care of and moved off without mentioning anything about what had just happened.

That definitely wasn't because he threw a book at him. It was a strange feeling knowing that for all intents and purposes, he'd come out on top.

Unless Rikuo...oh no...

Kazahaya let out a relieved sigh to find Kakei's dictionary was sitting on his bed. It was flipped open, he realized with a little thrill, to the page he read bourgeois off of. Rikuo really must not have known what it meant.

That was officially score one for Kazahaya!

* * *

Rikuo showed himself into Kakei's office. The older man was alone for once, doing paperwork by lamplight. 

"Can I help you with something, Rikuo?" He looked up and smiled pleasantly at his company.

"No. I just need to borrow your first aid kit." He opened a cabinet and took out the white plastic case.

"Is everything all right?"

Rikuo considered the question as he rummaged around. But maybe he should be asking Kazahaya that, instead. Or maybe he'd just caught him at a bad time?

"Fine." He pulled out a roll of bandages, and tape and shut the case again. "Can I, uh, pay you, or-"

"Don't worry about it. May I ask what they're for?" It was clear that he was very interested. He'd set down his pen and was watching Rikuo with his usual probing smile. Rikuo owed him a lot, if he really wanted to know, he felt obligated to give him what he wanted.

He turned towards Kakei and raised his shirt to expose his torso. The older man came around his desk and thoughtfully studied the angry bruise.

"I take it you were caught off guard."

"Yeah, you could say that." Rikuo laughed and winced. He knew it had been a book, thrown by Kazahaya no less, that had done the damage, but it felt like he'd been shot or stabbed or at least hit by someone Saiga's size. The most damage he initially thought there had been was getting the breath knocked out of him, and then he bent to pick up the book and he thought his stomach had been torn out.

"What happened?"

Rikuo gave him the short summary, leaving out everything leading up to the book being thrown, and everything after.

"Ah." And that was it. He either already understood it or didn't think it was as odd as Rikuo made it out to be. Whichever it was, Kakei opened the first aid kit again and handed Rikuo an icepack, telling him to bandage his injury after some of the swelling had gone down. By then it was quickly going from red to darkest purple.

"Nothing life threatening, just take it easy. And watch out for flying dictionaries." Rikuo thanked him and left, trying to remember when he'd actually mentioned that the book was a dictionary.

When Kakei's door opened again, he didn't look up.

"Anymore late night visitors dropping by, or is it safe to come in again?"

"No, I think we've seen the last of those two for today." Saiga stepped in and locked the door behind him, just in case. Then he sprawled tiredly on the couch.

"It's a good thing I'm not the jealous type." Kakei laughed softly as he cleaned up his paperwork. What was left could wait until morning.

"I'm very glad to hear that." He placed the files inside the desk and turned in his chair to watch Saiga.

"Well...? Are you going to tell me what'd happening with them or not?" He growled in irritation.

"Well, it seems that the book I lent Kazahaya wasn't as harmless as I originally thought."

"Is that so?"

"Hmm. I suppose we'll have to keep watching to see exactly what's still in there."

"Nothing that wasn't let on purpose." Saiga laughed. He felt sorry for those boys sometimes, victim to experiments and observations they'd probably never know about.

But that was the price they paid. They'd thank Kakei someday.

* * *

I don't think I explained the dictionary thing very well, but you got the foreshadowing of not and I'll explain better next time, whenever that it. Until then! 


End file.
